Over the last two years, more than 1,000 branches in the UK have closed in response to the shifting consumer preference toward digital banking.

Lloyds Banking Groupplans to close 49 branches throughout Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland, and Halifax as part of its three-year plan to close 400 branches total. This move continues the bank’s closures from earlier this year and will result in 99 job cuts.

Royal Bank of Scotlandwill close 25% of its existing network — 62 Royal Bank of Scotland branches and 196 NatWest locations — leaving the bank with 744 branches.

As digital banking has become more popular, the need for human support and physical branches has decreased.

Consumers in the UK are increasingly reliant on mobile banking.Over6 millionUK consumers used banking apps in 2016, up 11% from the previous year, according to a study by the British Bankers Association and EY. There was a 30% increase in the number of UK consumers who use apps to manage their savings, and a 46% increase in those using apps to track their credit card spending. It's becoming necessary for banks to adapt their offerings to consumers' changing banking preferences by closing branches and investing more in digital offerings.

Cutting branches can be a good way for banks to drive down costs while catering to customers’ needs. For banks, physical channels, and the labor that comes with them, are expensive to maintain. So cutting branches could help banks save money that they can use to further build out their digital offerings, which might, in turn, drive up customer acquisitions and engagements. And by using imaging to push consumers to digital banking for more functions, banks could cut costs significantly — depositing a check digitally is 96% less expensive than depositing it through a human teller, according to JPMorgan Chase. This has been a strategy of banks globally — Bank of America, for example, has closed 1,597 branches since 2009 — and one that will likely allow these firms to allocate funds toward products that consumers want more, like digital banking apps and online platforms.

Highlights five trends that are changing payments, looking at how disparate factors, such as surprise elections and fraud surges, are sparking change across the ecosystem.

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